I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.
Audrey Hepburn

I might, but I hate to spend all that money and have my hair still look like sh**. I haven't had a cut in awhile so it could be that my ends are fried. Although I don't use a blowdryer or flat iron, so don't know why they would be fried.

I have very thick hair, and it has never been stick straight (even using chemicals and heat). Hate my hair.

A Chi is too rich for my blood. If I were going to straighten more than once a month I'd probably spring for one. But for my needs, just to straighten once or twice a month, it isn't worth it.

I have a Remington Wet 2 Straight and it works a treat, and my hair doesn't get burnt or fried or whatever.

Like I said, if this were a daily thing with me I'd spend more money on an iron.

Originally Posted by PartyHair

ITA. If I were to straighten more than once a month, I would totally buy a CHI. I have a Conair something or other, and it works okay. I don't straighten a lot though...it's just too much work for me. I like just diffusing and going.

I know the feeling. If you invest in a quality straightener, you'll probably have much more luck with it.
I bought a CHI Turbo (on eBay, so it was less expensive than in stores), and I love it. It's such a huge difference from when I was using Vidal Sassoon and Hot Tools straighteners.

I haven't straightened in a while, because my hair is in dire need of a hair cut (I think it's been over a year since my last cut), so the ends of my hair are atrocious.

If you're looking for a nicer quality straightener for less money than a CHI, I'd suggest checking out an Andis. I think they only make one, which is a ceramic, but it's very nice. My friend got hers for 25 or so from Target, and it did a very nice job straightening my hair. I did end up buying a CHI, but I do recommend the Andis if you're looking. Link

Good luck,
Sarah

"And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance
But you are not alone in this"

“My ability to turn good news into anxiety is rivaled only by my ability to turn anxiety into chin acne.” - Tina Fey

Your hair actually doesn't look that bad. Straigtening takes skill especially with hair as curly as yours. Before I got TR, straightening was a two day process if I did it myself. I would first do it and it would look like yours. Straight but not quite right. I would then pull it back into a tight bun for a few hours or overnight. Then the next morning, I would run the flat iron through it again. On the second day, it would finally look better. It would also help to have too much product like a pomade or something in it. Buying the Sedu helped a lot but I still didn't get perfect hair the first try.

There is a product called Cream Shine by either essations or cessations that my stylist recommended for me. It's kinda heavy and greasy but it helped me when flat ironing before TR.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -- Theodor Seuss Geisel

For your first time, that's not bad at all! I would be THRILLED if I could do as good a job as that myself. I can do pretty much everything to my hair - my own cornrows, box braids, twists, sets - but I cannot press it straight to save my life. I go to the salon for that. It's hard to get enough tension yourself when your hair is really curly/thick/coarse.

I think what you did looks fine. If you wrap it and cover it with a scarf tonight or set it in a few big rollers, it might smooth out a bit and look great.

Get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me. -Muhammad Ali

Your hair actually doesn't look that bad. Straigtening takes skill especially with hair as curly as yours. Before I got TR, straightening was a two day process if I did it myself. I would first do it and it would look like yours. Straight but not quite right. I would then pull it back into a tight bun for a few hours or overnight. Then the next morning, I would run the flat iron through it again. On the second day, it would finally look better. It would also help to have too much product like a pomade or something in it. Buying the Sedu helped a lot but I still didn't get perfect hair the first try.

There is a product called Cream Shine by either essations or cessations that my stylist recommended for me. It's kinda heavy and greasy but it helped me when flat ironing before TR.

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

I agree. The first couple of times I straightened my hair it didn't look that good. Were you pressing down with the Maxiglide? I saw the creator on HSN and he said you don't have to press down like with other irons.

I have a Remington Wet 2 Straight and it works a treat, and my hair doesn't get burnt or fried or whatever.

Like I said, if this were a daily thing with me I'd spend more money on an iron.

Originally Posted by PartyHair

Ditto this. I used to have this iron and it worked like a charm for me. I didn't iron my hair everyday though, or even frequently, so I didn't invest in an expensive one. I sold mine here because I am sticking to curly hair now that I know how to get great hair days.

BTW, my hair looked like your straightened when I used those cheapie gold plated irons. The Wet2Straight yielded much better results.

I bought one of those Maxiglide things and reviewed it here a couple of years ago. I had exactly the same experience you did--I had the feeling it was going to rip hair, and it did. I sent it back to the vendor with some suggestions for improvement, like taking the little ball off the end of the teeth and making them smooth with a more graduated shape, and making a smaller version for more control and to get closer to the scalp, esp for shorter hair. Guess my opinion wasn't as important as they would have had me think.

There was no way I could see myself using that thing every day b/c I straighten every day. It made my hair full and swingy, but that ripping issue....

Go for the flat iron--they even have some that are curved so you don't get such a flat, stick straight look that you then have to turn around and curl again. CurlMaster makes one. Good luck.

For the sleekest look, blow dry your hair straight with a rounded brush (this does take some skill, though). And then go over it with the flat iron. Apply lots of anti-frizz serum.

If I ever get my scanner to work, I'll post my graduation pic in my photo album. My mom did my hair and it looks very straight.

Originally Posted by x_tigerlily

That doesn't work for everyone. Blow drying makes my hair impossible! It gets hard and flyaway and looks dry and brittle and the ends look awful, and no amount of pressing or product can fix it. It's worth a shot though, because it works really well for some folk. For me, much better than blowdrying is to try to get hair as straight as possible when really wet with a fine toothed comb and tension, then wrap or band or bun it till it dries and tie a satin scarf over it (even if that takes a day or two - you can speed it up with a hooded drier) and then have it pressed after it is already somewhat stretched that way.

Get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me. -Muhammad Ali